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Bridge bashing


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3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Oh, so sorry to hear that, except for the cars in the delivery bays.

I think a lot of it is what you get used to - I'ver met HGV drivers that can reverse a 44tonne  A Framed Drawbar trailer perfectly onto a loading dock but cannot do the same in an 18tonne Rigid.

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9 hours ago, SamThomas said:

A friend of mine worked for a number of car transporter companies over 30 years - he made up a "height indicator pole" which he carried with him.

There's a rather unusual restriction on the B645 through Kimbolton - car transporters are banned.  Not a height issue and no problem with other HGVs, but they had so many collisions with a building on a sharp right angle corner caused by excessive overhang of those vehicles.  I can't think of any other road which needs to ban lorries based on their type like that.

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It's surprising how many caravan owners can't reverse their caravans, hence the sales of those expensive electric things which attach to the towbar and will push the caravan into place.... When I was racing I had to reverse the trailer into a very tight drive, soon got used to doing it and never had any issues with the caravan but it was amusing watching some people doing it, same as parallel parking and even watching some people negotiate a lock!

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I drive a small town car, in the past I have driven an 18 seat Transit minibus. The Transit I found was easier to reverse than the car. The reason was that the rear corners of the Transit were visible in the mirrors whereas the car being egg shaped and with thick rear pillars was harder to reverse the rear corners being invisible from the drivers seat. I have had the car for several years now and I am now familiar with it so I can reverse it easily and safely but the Transit I could do it straight away.

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11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Skill...

 

And there's me can't even get my little Honda Jazz

in the middle of a parking bay in the car park :(

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Here is your opportunity to contribute to the major repair & deck replacement of the much -bashed Bridge 326 over the A60 at Loughborough, which will enable reunification of the GCR North and South, and reconnection of both lines with the Midland MainLine.

 

http://easydonate.org/FORWARD  

 

image.png.25f504ef62c9be070ea2014eea2a8404.png

Dava

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Trying to reverse the boat trailer is a pain, as the side of the dinghy is a continuous curve & not a constant one.  There is no straight bit.  The middle is 2 m wide, the back a lot less & the bow 2cm.  Add in a mast which comes most of the way over the car & can be awfully close to things at a tight bend.  Just easier to unhitch. 

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How about discussing your driving & reversing problems on a new thread?

The topic here is railway bridge strikes!

Dava

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11 hours ago, keefer said:

Not as bad as the Level Crossings thread, recent discussions involve ejector seats and remote control diggers!

 

Ah but they are still on topic (well, the ejector seat was!) as we were discussing what happens to the people on the train in the event of a major collision caused by a vehicle (or boat!) on a crossing!

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When I was towing a caravan before we put it on a seasonal pitch I could reverse if I had the room.

Any tight situations though it was easier to use the motor mover than spending ages going back and forth.

The mover presses a drive wheel against the tyres allowing you to move the caravan by remote control.

 

Paul

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13 hours ago, lmsforever said:

I went on a caravan club course to learn reversing but after a day I still could not do it so mostly pushed the the thing onto a pitch .

Not picking on you in particular, but one of the most entertaining driving breaks I ever had was one summer parked at Toddington northbound services on the M1. The lorry park - which caravanners have to use - has a central lane off which all the parking bays are reversed into at 45°, like a herringbone pattern.

It must have been a Friday as there was a lot of holiday 'getaway' traffic - and there wasn't a single caravanner who could perform that relatively simple reverse into the parking bays first time. Not one, in almost an hour. 

I think there should be additional training and driving test for towing a caravan. I witnessed a caravan snake & jack-knife  ahead of me on the M50 once. I stopped to assist, and the shaken-up young family admitted they'd borrowed the caravan from a friend for the week. It was clear the driver had no idea what he was doing. As they ended up facing the wrong way up the road - at least they hadn't overturned - he had no idea how to get out of the situation either. I told him to call the Traffic Police, as the road would have to be closed while he unhitched the caravan to turn it, and his car, to face the right way again. The M50 is only 2 lanes so there wasn't room for him to just swing it all around anyway.

 

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When I lived near the Severn Bridge (now the M48) it wasn't unusual for caravans to indulge in a different style of bridge bashing.  The old bill were pretty good at closing the bridge to high-sided vehicles whenever if there was anything much stronger than a light breeze up the river though.

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On 18/06/2021 at 09:29, Hobby said:

It's surprising how many caravan owners can't reverse their caravans, hence the sales of those expensive electric things which attach to the towbar and will push the caravan into place.... When I was racing I had to reverse the trailer into a very tight drive, soon got used to doing it and never had any issues with the caravan but it was amusing watching some people doing it, same as parallel parking and even watching some people negotiate a lock!

Parallel parking is one of those things I'm not very good at. I can do it but not quickly and easily. Just lack of practice, I probably have to parallel park once a year on average.

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4 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

 

I think there should be additional training and driving test for towing a caravan. 

 

 

As Sam mentioned above, there is now a test for towing a large trailer or caravan if the combined weight of car and trailer exceeds 3.5 ton. Those with a full licence before 1997 can drive anything up to 7.5 ton which I have done way back in days when we collected waste oil for delivery to the Festiniog Railway . . . . 

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